This invention relates to wire welding devices and particularly to improvement of the booms and feeding of wire to workstations.
The prior art reduced wire feeding problems caused by sharp bends in torch conduits or cables. The prior art also included a counter balancing device associated with the boom to maintain a fixed elevation angle of the boom except when faced out of balance by the operator in order to weld at the workstation. The boom swiveled on a swivel post.
The bends were substantially eliminated by this device, but the wear and tear on the cable during transfer from one workstation to another is continued. The wear was the result of the cable dragging on the floor or on the surface of the large work pieces, thus the cables wore out quite rapidly, requiring purchase of new units.
This invention provides for controlled elevation angles of the boom so that the operator can adjust the boom with more precision and without overcoming the retractive force of the counter balance spring or weight of the prior art.
This invention provides the ability to retrofit or originally fit a plate on the boom to a rotating plate or turntable mechanism, well known in the art, to permit rotation of the boom as required. All existing swivels are on a swivel post which does not provide the base area for support of the boom and wire feeder.
The invention then provides choices of various fixed elevations of the boom. The operator can quickly and exactly choose the right boom elevation for a particular job to ensure that the cable or conduits are not dragging on the floor or across the work piece, especially large pieces such as reels or drums. By nearly always having the hose or cable free of contact with a hard surface, life of a conduit is increased by a significant factor i.e., up to four times the life. Thus replacement cost are also reduced by the same factor. This increased life is possible because the boom elevation is fixed for a particular job as contrasted with the considerable amount of movement or change in elevation occurring with no control or a counter balanced boom. With no accurate fixed mechanical adjustment of the boom elevation angle, the conduits are in almost constant contact with the floor or large work pieces. The hose or conduit in the prior art is in contact with the top of a large work piece when welding on the side away from the wire source.
This improvement is accomplished by the utilization of a fixed elevation angle controller which has a plurality of fixed elevation positions to permit the hose or conduit to be at any required elevation to keep them off the floor and the work piece.
This invention provides a novel means of fixed yet varied control of the elevation of the conduit of a welding device while being free to horizontally rotate in the selected fixed elevation. Rotation is provided by a base sufficiently large to support the boom and any devices mounted on the boom, the base is fixed to and rotatable on a rotary turntable.